


The Demon's Daughters

by Niaa



Series: Within the Walls of Nanda Parbat [3]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Dark, F/M, Family, League of Assassins - Freeform, Nanda Parbat
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-29
Updated: 2015-09-29
Packaged: 2018-04-23 23:40:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4896736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Niaa/pseuds/Niaa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Three years have passed since the fateful day that took Anisa from her family. Now, her youngest daughter stands in the Lazarus Pit Chamber, a single step away from becoming a soldier of the League of Assassins. </p><p>Unknown to her father, Zakia al Ghul is not ready to take that step, to take someone’s life. The dictatorial authority Al Sah-him had been raising his children with since his wife’s death left no room for Zakia to even think that there were other options. So, she took the only one available to her: she ran. </p><p>Now, Imani, the eldest daughter, has to take the last option left to her to save her family. She has to bring her mother back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Demon's Daughters

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys! Welcome back to my painful AU! 
> 
> The chapter is finally out, as long promised. Honestly, I thought this story wouldn’t make it past the first chapter of The Death of Felicity Smoak, or at least that is how I planned it when I first wrote it. It is only thanks to the response of you lovely readers that I went as far as I have, and wow, even I have to marvel at how far it has come, and how far it will go with this particular fic. 
> 
> I wanted to say a big thank you to the readers who have been there since the start and offer a warm welcome to those who have just found this series. I would strongly recommend that you read The Death of Felicity Smoak if you haven’t so far. 
> 
> So, this story was born out of the simple idea that too much pain has been caused by the ending of the first fic. I didn’t know how The Death of Felicity Smoak would end until I started planning the third part of it, and when I did, and looked back at what I already wrote, that seemed like the most logical outcome for the story. 
> 
> Now, however, we are going into something new, something that I myself hope will have a happy ending, as much as it can. 
> 
> The story itself will focus a lot more on a number of different relationships within the al Ghul family, not like The Death of Felicty Smoak, which focused primarily on the Olicity relationship. There will be a lot of focus on Olicity as well as all of their daughters. I am not going to forget about the sons, they will have their parts in it as well, albeit smaller. 
> 
> I think that’s it so far. This chapter is way shorter than my usual ones, but I promise you that the following ones will be a lot longer.
> 
> Happy reading! 
> 
> Tell me what you think of this start :3

Zakia’s childhood had ended the day her mother died. She could still remember the moment the world had become grey, the look on her father’s face when he walked into the family room that morning after summoning all of his children before vanishing from their lives for weeks. That had added plenty of salt to the already large wound. 

They didn’t have anyone in those days, not even each other as the world seemed to break around them. Ibn and Imani separated themselves from each other and all their siblings, too consumed by their own pain. The rest of them were too young to deal with it by themselves, Zakia herself being only seven and Rida just a year older. The elder girl had grown very quiet in those weeks, which served to dilute the connection that held Rida, Zakia and Majid together for the entirety of their lives. Zakia felt like the world had ended.

But to the young girl’s great surprise life went on, the flow holding enough normalcy for her to be able to live though one day and than the next. Nothing could ever go back to how it was before, however. Zakia felt betrayed by her father, not because he killed her mother (a fact no one dared to speak about), but because he had left them to deal with the pain alone. And she could never forgive him for that. 

A shaky breath left the girl’s lips as she met the Demon Head’s gaze then. It was her tenth birthday, a day in her life that was perhaps more important than any other. And she was completely unprepared to face the task that was before her. 

It should have been simple really. It was a ritual that she had been preparing for for her entire life, a rite of passage that would mark her transition from a child of Ra’s al Ghul into a soldier, signifying her official entry into the League of Assassins. 

She remembered the hours upon hours of lectures cornering justice, the League’s philosophy, she remembered the hours of training that only ended when all her muscles ached, she remembered standing in this room just over a year ago watching Rida striding forward without a single doubt in her step. She wasn’t Rida. She couldn’t do that. 

“Come forward, my daughter,” Al Sah-him commanded. 

Zakia’s gaze shot back up to his from where it drifted to the captive who knelt at the back of the room only to lower once again. In the past three years it had become easier to kneel before her father than to meet his gaze. That is what she did when she stepped forward, lowering her body until her knees touched the ground. Breath stilled within her chest once again, but the strength to raise her gaze to meet the one of Ra’s was no longer within the girl.

“Father,” she acknowledged him after a long pause, her voice too weak, containing the tremble that she desperately wanted to hide. The young blonde didn’t move even as she felt the unease building on around her. 

It wasn’t only Zakia that felt that something was wrong anymore. 

She wondered what her father thought, how disappointed he would be if he knew what thoughts were running through her head. But even if the man felt that something was off, his gaze remained undeterred as his youngest daughter collected all her strengths merely not to look away from the blue eyes that she had inherited. 

“Are you ready to embark on the second stage of your training, my child?” Ra’s asked softly. 

Heavy silence laid its dominion over the chamber before Zakia’s heavy breath made it flee. Was she ready? She was not ready, she was _not_ ready! Her shoulders trembled and her gaze finally lowered, the strengths seeping from her bones. The girl could hear whispered murmurs that broke the ritualistic silence, making cold sweat gather along her spine. If others were willing to deviate from the painstakingly disciplined ceremony than what hope was there left from her?

“Answer my question, Zakia,” Al Sah-him ordered, his voice echoing in the silent room above her. 

The blonde girl had to bite the inside of her cheek until it bled not to cower under the terror the man managed to instill with a single quiet sentence. The pull to obey was almost strong enough, almost pushed her over the edge to do what was expected of her. Almost.

“I can’t,” she finally answered, the words spoken barely above a whisper as a small sob shook her shoulders. 

A quiet wave of astonishment swept through the crowd gathered in the temple, to be silenced by a glare from the Demon. 

The man himself took a step forward as the room became deathly quiet, his steps slow, measured as he approached his daughter. 

“Would you like to repeat that, Zakia?” Ra’s asked, the words as soft as before, only this time the shudder of panic ran though all present. The man did not do anything to hide his ire, the great displeasure shining plainly on his face, the blue gaze able to freeze even the most brave in their step. The girl was not the bravest person in the room. By her own opinion she was most likely the densest person present within these walls at the moment. After all, nobody in their right mind would pick this moment to speak against the most dangerous man on Earth. 

“I said I cant!” Zakia yelled with her full voice, using her training to push her body backwards onto her hands and spring to a standing position in less than a second. She met her father’s gaze, the emotions swimming in the identical pools of blue equal in strengths as that of her sire as she backed away further and further. 

Al Sah-him’s mouth spread into an ugly sneer as he watched her go, unmoving. “You dare to defy me on this day?” he hissed.

She was almost at the door. There was nothing he could do to make her stand down, to make her return to her place and finish her task for that day. Zakia had never felt less afraid of her father than she did in that moment. 

But the only thing he had to do was raise his hand, the anger in his eyes morphing into disappointment, and it was that that made the girl finally look away as she felt two guards appear behind her, restraining her. The anger she could face, but not this. This, the disappointment, was something she knew she could never defeat. 

“Take her to her room.” 

 

* * *

 

It was supposed to be her birthday on that day. It felt like anything but. As Zakia sat curled up on her bed with tears rolling down her cheeks for hours, she wished for nothing else but her mother to be there. 

Everything had crumbled to ashes and there was no possible way to make it right again. Her father would never forgive her for what she did, the shame that she had brought upon herself. Every time she closed her eyes she saw the utter disappointment etched into his face, the kind of disappointment she knew was followed by punishment. But it wasn’t the thought of punishment that caused the sharp daggers of fear to tear her flesh. 

The girl knew her father too well, knew the reputation that he held even beyond these walls. Sooner or later he would make her succumb to his will. There was no escaping that. Even the strongest of men found themselves on their knees before the Demon’s Head. Who was she, a little girl, to stand up to him? 

That was when the realization finally came to her. The tears have stopped, shock and alarm colouring her vision. If she remained where she was, Ra’s al Ghul would turn her into a killer. 

That is what he had done to all her older siblings, and like the perfect soldiers they were, they obeyed their lord. Because no one could change the man’s mind. Ever. Al Sah-him ruled the League and his family with an iron hand, and the only person who had ever been able to make him reconsider his thoughts was killed by his own sword three years ago. 

Zakia was never like her older siblings, not like Ibn who had hunted for recognition, or Imani who reveled in the strength that the League provided her with, or Rida who always strived to exceed expectations. She didn’t want the power, or the glory. What she wanted was her mother and her childhood back. If she took a life with her own hands, her childhood, as feeble as it was already, would be as dead as her victim. 

One last heavy sob shook the blonde’s shoulders as she scooted to the edge of the bed, setting her feet down on the ground as the cry sucked all air out of her lungs. There was only one thing that she could do to stop all of this. She had to flee Nanda Parbat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Say hi to me on tumblr
> 
> [theonlyoneofherkind](http://theonlyoneofherkind.tumblr.com)


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